--- In Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com, Helen Borrie <helebor@t...>
wrote:

> Instead of wasting hours theorising about version numbers and ways
> to woo fools and idiots, get cracking and write white papers. Join
> Connect! and DO something. Document first-hand experiences from
> your organisations and your customers about what Firebird does for
> you/them. Write how-tos, share your knowledge. *Those* are the
> things that impress smart people.

Quite true, but it needs to be organised. Not organised as in having
a boss, but organised as in directed, do-able, focussed. The biggest
thing around do-able is probably finding a way to carve up the work
into really small pieces and still end up with a coherent end result.

Just think of this list. Reading it, contributing posts, will take up
1..2 hours of time each week, but is split over many 10 minute time
slots. Donating 10 minutes to Firebird marketing is something many
fans will be able to do, and on a frequent basis. Donating 8 hours
straight for a draft whitepaper is probably too much to ask.

Part of the reason for having the slogan + pyramid discussion is to
define in clear terms what we want to communicate so that all the
fans can contribute to the marketing by simple 10 minute jobs like
posting comments and talk-backs to relevant internet articles. If all
have the "10-line" whitepaper in the back of their minds, the end
result will be coherent. Well, coherent enough to work.

If we want whitepapers, a small core group probably will have to
write up the back-bone of each, so that contributing sections becomes
a 10 minute job. Creative Commons licensing seems appropiate for such
work.

There was a *nil* show of hands when I asked for some volunteers to
do such back-bones, so I guess everybody is already too busy, donating
too much time. I guess the first task at hand is to draw in some new
blood.